Tank cooling

[Gauge]

I have a 42 hex tank, and the air conditioner in our apartment SUCKS. It stays about 76-78 most of the time, but I can't really keep it any cooler. My tank stays at 78, and when the lights are on on a hot, day it can get up to 80 degrees! 8O

There's no WAY I'm paying an insane amount of money for a tank cooler, but I've heard that fans blowing across the top of the water work pretty well due to evaporation. How big of a difference does that make?

Also, do you have any recommendations as to how I could mount a fan to blow across the top? If you've seen a glass top for a hex tank before, you might've noticed there hardly ANY open space at the top to put a fan. I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do about it.

 

[BillyZ]

firstly, those temperatures are nothing to be concerned about. I have my heater set to 80F.

fans blowing across the top do indeed help and do indeed increase evaporation (you'll just need to make more top-off water with your RO unit is all)

as far as mounting a fan... at this point i don't think you need to but for the future, if you thought it were necessary, you buy an inexpensive "clip on" desk style fan.

 

[Gauge]

These temperatures aren't anything to be concerned about? I've been told by people in the local aquarium stores that 72-78 degrees was what you wanted, and 80 was really pushing it.

What point do you think I should purchase said fan? (And by the way, I don't know why I didn't think of buying that kind of fan. That seems rather obvious now that you mention it.)

 

[fishfreek]

Natural reef average temperature is approx 82-84F. Keeping our tanks below this can acutally be stressful on our inhabatants. It does slow down their metabliusm so they process food slower.

I run mine between 80-82F. ANything above 84F for an extended period or swings from say 80-86F consistanly are not things you want asit can be rather stressful.

 

[Gauge]

Are these temperatures good for corals, fish, or both?

 

[Bob Ashcraft]

These temperatures aren't anything to be concerned about? I've been told by people in the local aquarium stores that 72-78 degrees was what you wanted, and 80 was really pushing it.

Do you think that, just maybe, the people at the LFS wanted to sell you a chiller?

My tank has been as high as 87-88 without any problems.

 

[fishfreek]

The last incident of ICH in my tanks was back about two years ago when I was living in a house with no AC and in the summer time during the day the temp would get up in the upper 80's and quite possibly even lower 90's. At night this temp would drop down to the lower 80's usually.

I lost many a fish that summer. Now that I am in a house with AC and I can keep a somewhat consistant temp in the lower 80's the fish are very healthy.

 

[Gauge]

Probably, Bob. Hehe. Even though I'd only need a 1/10 HP chiller, I'd bet the commission on one of those would treat them to a nice dinner at the very least. You get a goo deal on the smallest one ever made, it'd still cost ya $500.

 

[ReefRaff]

Mine consistantly run 86 in the summer, if it hits 87 the ?I breake out the 5" fan which can cool it as much as 3 deg overnight. I have a 75G.

 

[ReefLady]

I run mine between 80-82F. ANything above 84F for an extended period or swings from say 80-86F consistanly are not things you want asit can be rather stressful.

Ditto. Our tank is a full blown sps reef (180g) with several fish. Our Yellow & Purple Tangs, 2 Ocellaris clowns, and a bi-color Blenny have all been with us well over 4 years.

 

[dantodd]

The last incident of ICH in my tanks was back about two years ago when I was living in a house with no AC and in the summer time during the day the temp would get up in the upper 80's and quite possibly even lower 90's. At night this temp would drop down to the lower 80's usually.

I lost many a fish that summer. Now that I am in a house with AC and I can keep a somewhat consistant temp in the lower 80's the fish are very healthy.

It was probably not the temperature but the fluctuations that got you.

My 10 gal has nearly a quart of evap daily during the summer.


dan

 

[colorblindpicas]

Gauge,

If you're still having trouble with your tank temperature (I'm in College Station so I now much fun humid/hot summers can be) you might try a very inexpensive chiller idea I first saw on this web site (check out troutman11111’s posts on the subject). If you have a spare powerhead laying around the house it will cost you less than 20 bucks.

I will attach a couple of pictures for you to take a look at mine, but basically it just consists of a Styrofoam box, 20 ft. of tubing, the powerhead, and whatever cooling source floats your boat. Just run the tubing out of the powerhead from the tank, coil it up in the box (with two holes to let the two slipped tightly into an out-of-the-box), back into the tank and you're all set.

I use frozen gel-filled cold packs (for muscle aches, etc) which I can alternate in out of the chiller depending on how warm the room is. You can experiment for yourself, but I usually get 1-2 degrees or so of cooling from each pack. The cooling takes a few hours to take full affect, but its best that way. I just drop in the packs every day around lunch time depending on how warm the house is that day.

Also, in regards to your question about certain corals liking certain temperatures, I have found that my pulsing xenia prefer temps around 80. Might be a bit low for everything else, but the pulsing is defiantly stronger when the temp is constant around that level.

Best of luck,
Christopher

 

[steve-s]

Excellent DIY suggestion colorblindpicas Very easy to set up.

How big of a tank is that helping to cool?

BTW, 25 kudo's for the great info!

Cheers
Steve

 

[colorblindpicas]

Thanks Steve... those will come in handy since I gave most of mine away tonight.=) It is on a 10 gallon most of the time. But just for kicks I threw it on my 55 with 3 ice packs inside, and it did manage to make a dent in the afternoon heat. Not enough to be worthwhile, but it still works great on the 10 in my room.

Christopher

 

[Red Virus]

Here is another DIY chiller it's not my ideal. for the life of me I cant remember were I have seen it from.thay use a small room frezzer
to chill the water with the kind you can put in your room next to your bed. all you do is drill a hole in both sides of the frezzer. and then run some tubing through the holes and loop it into a coil.then run it back out to your sump or to the main tank.make sure you put some calking around the tubing if you dont you well be chipping a lot of ice from inside of it.

 

[BillyZ]

Colorblind... adding a couple gallons of water to your cooler will greatlyimprove it's efficiency. Given that you run it all the time though, you may not want it to get too much more efficient.

 

[Gauge]

Christopher,

Thanks for the suggestion! I didn't read it until just now.

I haven't been having too much trouble with the tank temp lately. It's been staying around 78-79 degrees. I have a sump now, which causes a lot more evap and keeps the temp down more. I also, turned my heater up to meet the max temp I usually have so the temp doesn't fluctuate much.

If I have a problem, I will definitely give this a shot, though. Excellent idea!!!

Kudos to you!